Edward Kenway

Edward Kenway (10 March 1693-3 December 1735) was a Welsh-born English pirate captain who captained the brig "Jackdaw" from 1715 to 1725.

Early Career
Kenway was born in Swansea, Wales to an English father and a Welsh mother. At the age of ten his family relocated to a Bristolian farm, but the life of a farmer did not suit him. In 1711 he left on a ship for Jamaica to join the British privateer Benjamin Hornigold in search of work as a sailor in the Royal Navy during the War of the Spanish Succession.

In 1713, a quick end to the war left Kenway without a job, and he turned to piracy. By 1715 he was already a part of a crew, but in a battle with British ships off Cape Bonavista his ship was destroyed and he was left laying on the shore, tired and out of breath. He saw another man, Duncan Walpole, on the beach, and Walpole offered to pay Kenway to take him to Havana. Kenway demanded immediate payment and walked towards Walpole, who failed to shoot Kenway with his dampened gun, and Walpole attempted to run off. Kenway killed him in the forest and stole the suit that he was wearing, that of a member of the Assassins Order.

As he ran around the island, he saved merchant Stede Bonnet from British troops, who suspected him of being a pirate involved in the fight that morning offshore. Kenway asked him for a favor: to take him to Havana to meet Governor Laureano Torres y Ayala, who had asked for Walpole to come to a meeting. Kenway was taken to Havana with Bonnet (arriving in early 1716), who planned to sell sugar there. Kenway used "Duncan Walpole" as an alias among the people of Havana, and even Bonnet. He gave a clear glass cube to Torres as instructed, and alongside privateer Woodes Rogers and arms dealer Julien du Casse, Kenway was inducted into the Templar Order.

Templar Order
Along with the other Templars, Kenway headed to the harbor to oversee the capture of merchant Bartholomew Roberts, whom the Templars called "the Sage" and needed to open the legendary "Observatory". Kenway escorted Roberts to the gaol in Havana's fortress, where he was detained, and Kenway was given the money promised. He saw it as insufficient, and planned to free Roberts and sell the location of the Observatory to the highest bidder. However, he was captured by Governor Torres, who sent him with the Spanish Treasure Fleet to Cadiz in order for him to be delivered from there to the Templars in London.

The Spanish Treasure Fleet
Kenway was held captive on board the ship "San Ignacio", where he met another prisoner, a black slave named Adewale from Trinidad. The two busted out of their ship and freed prisoners on that ship and others, starting a large rebellion just off the Florida coast. The treasure fleet was overran, and many ships were sunk as a result of combat as well as a hurricane. Kenway made off with one brig, with Adewale as his first mate. He called it "the Jackdaw", and made it his flagship.

Assassins Order
Captain Kenway made his first captures off Abaco Island. Boarding small Spanish merchant schooners, he captured some goods and money from them, beginning his pirate career. He headed to Nassau, where he met up with Hornigold, Jack Rackham, and Edward Thatch, and decided that he needed to recruit a bigger crew. After saving many pirates from British soldiers in the British part of the town, he set out on a ship with Thatch to find a way to defend the nascent "Nassau Republic" from the impending British counterattack.

The two tailed the Spanish man-of-war "El Arca del Maestro" to Great Inagua, but when Kenway found out that Julien du Casse was the captain and might tell the Templars of Kenway's escape, he infiltrated the island and killed Du Casse. He then used Du Casse's manor as his compound, and "El Arca del Maestro", a huge and heavy ship, was purposely beached on Abaco Island by Thatch.



Kenway then met up with James Kidd, the young son of Captain William Kidd, who told him about monks living in Tulum on the Mexican shoreline. The monks, who were of the Maya people, were members of the Assassins Order, and Kenway found out that the Sage's statue resembled Captain Roberts. Kenway and Kidd were suddenly alerted to an attack on Tulum by slavers, so they took part in repelling the attack, using sleep and berserk darts to incapaticate guards before finishing them off close-up. The leader of the monks, Ah Tabai, told Kenway that he caused the damage caused to Tulum and banished him from the city.

Kenway reluctantly agreed to help Kidd in the Assassins' Cause by killing Torres and the man responsible for the attack, Dutch slaver Laurens Prins. Kenway and Kidd found out that Prins was in Kingston, Jamaica, a British port. Prins planned to sell over Roberts, a man in the employ of his, to Torres, but Prins knew that they were followed and called off the deal. Kenway and Kidd later assassinated Prins at his mansion in January 1717, but Roberts escaped.

After leaving Kingston, Kenway launched an attack on the British naval fort of Navassa in Jamaica, taking it over, in his first assault on a fort. It was an easy target, and its fall gave the Pirates a new base.

=== Siege of Nassau ===

In January 1718, Kenway and Edward Thatch teamed up to gather medicine for Nassau, whose population was suffering from syphillis and other diseases. The two stormed HMS Rose, a man-of-war, off Mariguana Island, and found some medicine. It was an inadequate amount, but they found out that the medicine came from Charles-Towne, South Carolina, from the markings on the box of medicine.

A month later, Kenway met Thatch on his ship "Queen Anne's Revenge" off of Charles-Towne Harbor, and found out that Thatch had besieged the city for eight days without results. Kenway infiltrated the city and stole two chests of medicine, as well as instructions on how to produce more. With this information, the Pirates were able to ensure that Nassau would stay in health.

In July, British governor Woodes Rogers and Commodore Peter Chamberlaine laid siege to Nassau Port with a blockade, and promised a pardon to any pirate who surrendered; the rest would be killed. Kenway and Captain Charles Vane escaped from the fort with a fireship attack, and they broke out to chase after Roberts, with Vane agreeing to help. They fled to the compound at Great Inagua, before setting out on a new journey to find out the location of Roberts.

The two captains headed north to North Carolina and on 18 July 1718 celebrated the retirement of Edward Thatch, who had avoided the fall of Nassau by running a semi-legitimate business in the Thirteen Colonies. However, Kenway tailed a suspicious man at the party, and found that he set off a signal, calling in Royal Navy warships. Fearsome British men-of-war clouded the area and Thatch was killed, and Kenway barely escaped Ocracoke Inlet with his life.

Although Thatch was dead, Kenway resumed his hunt for Roberts alongside Vane. They attacked the Royal African Company ship "Royal African Pearl", hoping for answers, and they learned that Roberts' ship "Princess" was in Kingston, Jamaica. Just then, Jack Rackham marooned the two on Isla Providencia, having taken a vote with the crew against their captaincy. The "Jackdaw" fell into Rackham's hands.

Charles Vane
Kenway and Vane were marooned on Isla Providencia, with Kenway doing all of the gathering, and Vane stealing clams from Kenway. Eventually, Vane told Kenway that he was leaving, and warned him not to follow; Vane was losing his sanity. Kenway followed, and Vane tried to shoot Kenway and throw grenades at him, but failed in his attempts, and it was Kenway who wounded him with hidden blades. Vane was spared, and Kenway took passage aboard a merchant schooner; Vane was later discovered by the British, turned in, and hung in Jamaica.

Journey to Principe
Kenway returned to Great Inagua, where he found an incarcerated Rackham, and Kidd (who had revealed himself to be a woman named "Mary Read" before killing Laurens Prins) and Adewale waiting for him. He set a course for Kingston on the "Jackdaw", and he found out that Benjamin Hornigold had turned traitor and sent John Cockram and Josiah Burgess to find Roberts on Principe, off Africa.

Traveling to Principe in May 1719, Kenway found Roberts' merchant crew dead at the hands of the Portuguese Army on the island, and he agreed to help Roberts free his crew from the Portuguese army. In the camp, Kenway killed the Portuguese troops as well as Burgess and Cockram, and when he returned to Roberts, he found him making his vows to become captain to his former merchant comrades, starting a career in piracy.

In September, the two met again off the Yucatan Peninsula (on the Belician side), and the two planned to work together in piracy. Roberts and Kenway stole the Portuguese man-of-war "Nosso Senhor de Compreensao" in a clever ploy, and they also stole some blood vials that could be used to access the Observatory. The two met again off Jamaica to discuss the Observatory, but Kenway was followed by Hornigold's ship the "Benjamin". After a wild chase through Espinazo del Diablo (Devil's Backbone), Hornigold shipwrecked on Santanillas and Kenway assassinated him there.

Kenway accompanied Roberts to the Observatory, which he found out was in Long Bay, Jamaica. They fought their way through indigenous guardians, and after demonstrating how the Observatory functioned, Roberts kicked Kenway into the waters far below, ending his partnership. Kenway escaped, but passed out due to blood wounds suffered during the exit and Roberts delivered him to Jamaica for a bounty.

In March 1721, Kenway was tried for piracy, and witnessed the sentencing of Mary Read and her accomplice Anne Bonny to death for piracy as well. They pleaded the belly, so they stayed alive longer. Kenway, assisted by Ah Tabai (who broke him out of a gibbet) aided Mary and Anne in escaping, but Mary died of illness before she could make it to the boats. Ah Tabai and Anne Bonny escaped, and Edward passed out.

Kenway resumed his hunt for Roberts, but had to find his location. Dressed in the clothes of Florentine diplomat Ruggiero Ferraro, Kenway attended the retirement party of Woodes Rogers, whose tenure as Governor of the Bahamas ended. He stabbed Rogers, and found out that Roberts was at Principe, before running away.

On 10 February 1722, Kenway caught up to Roberts, aboard his man-of-war "Royal Fortune". The Spanish and British navies also attacked Roberts, leading to a large battle. "Jackdaw" incapacitated "Royal Fortune" and Kenway boarded her, and killed Roberts aboard the ship. At Roberts' request, he destroyed Roberts' body to prevent the Templars from taking his blood to access the observatory.

The Observatory
With Anne Bonny as his quartermaster, Kenway moved on the Observatory, only to find that Torres' men had reached there first. Kenway had the skull that the Observatory needed, but wanted to show Torres that he had it before killing him. He infiltrated the Observatory and assassinated Torres, finishing the Templar quest to take the Observatory and driving them back. Ah Tabai honored Kenway, and gave him news that his daughter (whom he was unaware of) was coming to see him.